Adjustable grain check attachment for grain binders



March 7, 1939. I F. A. METTLER I 9,

ADJUSTABLE GRAINCHECK ATTACHMENT FOR GRAIN BINDERS Filed Oct. 25, 1937Patented Mar. 7, 1939 ADJUSTABLE GRAIN CHECK ATTACHMENT FOR GRAKNBINDERS Fredrick A. Mettler, Hutchinson County, S. Dak.

Application Oct ber 25, 1937, Serial No. 170,920

2 Claims. (01. 56-472) This invention relates to improvements inadjustable grain check attachments for grain binders and moreparticularly to a device which may be readily attached to a self-bindingharvester.

As is well known in the art, the heads of wheat straws are heavier thanthe butt portions thereof, and consequently when feeding the unthreshedgrain by gravity over the inclined surface of the deck or chute, to thebinding and knotting mechanism of the harvester, the stems of the grainbecome disalined, thereby resulting in an uneven or disarranged bundle.It has also been discovered that this unsatisfactory result is due tothe varying lengths of the wheat straws.

panying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a portion of aself-binder, with the adjustable grain check attached thereto,

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the grain check connected to a knottershaft, a fragmentary portion of the latter being shown,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of the invention.

Referring in detail to the drawing, l designates the binder deck and 2the butt-board. Associated with the deck in the usual manner is thebinder frame 3 supporting the rotary knotted shaft 4, tyer-wheel 5,breast-plate t ejector arm l and ejector arm supporting bracket 8, allof the foregoing parts being of the usual construction at present inuse.

115 However, the prior art devices, which have been The instantinvention pertains broadly to the adopted to overcome these objectionshave usugrain check attachment and its manner of com ally taken the formof tensioned fingers which nection to the usual self-binder, and morespenormally rest upon the surface of the grain deck cifically consistsof a right angle bracket member until raised out of engagement.therewith by the 9, formed to provide a short arm iii and elongatedcompleted bundles being forcibly moved therearm ll.

against through the action of the usual ejector The arm it is formedwith a circular opening arms in discharging the bundle from the bindingl2, and a spaced elongated slot l3 therethrough, and knotting mechanism.The objection to the said slot and opening extending in a directiongrain checks at present in use is that the latter, parallel to the armil.

when suddenly released at the moment the bun- The arm l i is providedwith a transverse screw dle is discharged, fall with considerable forcethreaded opening it adjacent to and extending at upon the grain deck andincoming wheat, thereby right angles to the opening l2 and slot l3, forresulting in considerable loss of grain due to what the reception of ascrew-threaded locking pin l5 might be termed a threshing action of thefingers. which latter is of a length to be projected across In order toovercome all of the foregoing obthe circular opening 52 for a purpose tobe herejections, it is the primary important object of this inafter morefully described. The free end of the invention to provide a grain checkwhich is conarm H is further provided with a plurality of nected to theejector mechanism, so as to operate spaced alined openings It. A taperedrod-like in timed relation to the movements of the latter. finger H hasits enlarged end provided with a A further important object of thisinvention is plurality of longitudinally spaced openings I8, to providea grain check of the above character and certain of which openings areto be alined which may be readily and quickly attached to with certainof the openings it so as to receive a theejector mechanism. of the grainbinders at fastening member l9, whereby the finger I! may present inuse. be horizontally or vertically adjusted with re- A still furtherimportant object of this invenspect to the free end of the elongated armI I, tion is to provide an adjustable grain check from and to the graindeck I over which said finger which all tensioning means have beeneliminated is supported and moves. and which is positive in action. Inthe modified form of the invention as dis- A still further object ofthis invention is to closed in Fig. 4, the device consists of achanprovide a grain check of simple constructior and neled substantiallyrectangular body 26 formed one which may be readily manufactured andwith an elongated slot 2| extending therethrough. placed upon the marketat a reasonable price. Formed integral with said body and projecting Theforegoing and other objects and advantages beyond one end thereof is anextension 22, havof this invention will be apparent throughout the ingits free end curved as at 23 to cooperate with course of the followingdescription and accoma curved plate 24 which together form a shaftengaging clamp, adapted to be secured to each other by means of a boltfastener 25. The channeled body it is formed to receive and support oneend of a tapered finger 26 which latter is secured to said body by meansof threaded bolts tion, as disclosed in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, one of the Vejector arms 1, which is carried by the knotter shaft adjacent the freeend of the latter, is removed from its supporting bracket 8. The rightangle bracket member 9 is then placed on shaft 4 by passing the latterthrough the opening 52 until the outer face of the arm ID abuts thebracket 8. The locking pin [5 is then turned down until its inner endengages with the knotter shaft, whereupon an additional fastening memberI9 is passed through the bracket 8 and arm in. It will thus be seen thatthe bracket 9 is looked upon the knotter shaft in a manner so as toprevent relative longitudinal and transverse shifting of the parts. Itwill be further noted that, the positioning of the finger I! at rightangles to the short arm It] eliminates the necessity of aligning theparts when the brackets 8 and 9 are operatively connected, and placesthe free end of finger IT in position to check the incoming grain afterthe ejector arms I have discharged a previously completed bundle.

In connecting the modified form of the invention, as shown in Fig. 4, tothe free end of the knotter shaft, the grain check is clamped about saidshaft by the cooperating members 23, 24, and 25, so that the finger 2'6will be disposed closely adjacent the grain deck with the ejector arms iextending rearwardly and spaced from said finger by substantially 90.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that either of the grain checksdisclosed, is directly connected to the knotter shaft and rotatestherewith and with the ejector arms I, from which latter they aredefinitely spaced so as to move to a position to check the incominggrain until same is gathered and tied immediately upon discharge of thepreviously completed bundle by said ejector arms.

While I have shown and described several forms of my invention, it is tobe distinctly understood that same may be further varied withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or the scope of thesub-joined claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A grain check attachment for use with a.

' self-binding harvester having a grain deck and a V rotary dischargearm shaft overlying said deck,

including a right angle bracket member having one of its arms formedwith an opening and an elongated slot spaced from said opening, theother arms 'of said bracket havinga plurality of spaced alined openingstherethrough, a rigid grain check rod. having one of its ends providedwith a plurality of spaced openings therethrough for selective alinementwith one of the openings through said other arm of the right anglebracket, and means received through said alined openings in the bracketand grain check rod to secure said members together.

2. A grain check attachment for self-binding harvesters, comprising aright angle bracket member having one of its arms provided with anopening, an adjustable fastening member carried by the other arm of saidbracket member adjacent to and mounted for relative movement in a pathtransverse of the axis of said opening, an elongated rod and means toadjustably connect said rod to the free end of said other arm of thebracket member.

FREDRICK A. METTLER.

